Welt-guide for welt-sewing machines.



' PATBNTED AUG. 4, 1908.

-wwnbmson. I WELT 'BPOR WELT SEWING MACHINES. 1

APPLIOLTIOH FILED SEPT. 30, 1904.

[n vnloi:

44mm mom OFFICE.

, a i WILLIAM THOMPSON, OF BROCKTON, MASSA Q\ KSETTS.

WELT-GUIDE FOR WELT-SEWING MAC Specification of Letters Patent.

s. liiatented Aug. 4, 1908.

Application filed September so, 1904. Serial No. 226,61,

To all whom it may concern: Be it known that 1, WILLIAM THOMPSON, acitizen of the United States, residing at Brockton, in the county ofPlymouth and State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement inWelt-Guides for Welt-Sewing Machines, of which the followingdescription, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is aspecification, like letters on the drawings representing like parts.

In mv co-pending application Sen-No.

222,915; filed Sept. 1, 1904, I have disclosed an improved we t-guidefor facilitating thesewing of welts in the manufacture of boots andshoes and my present invention is a further improvement for the samegeneral purposes.

One of my main objects is to facilitate the sewing of a welt about thetoe or other curved port-ion of the sole so as not only to relieve thestitches of the strain which has heretofore been brought upon them bythe mechanism commonly in use, which has compelled the leather suddenl Yto take an unnatural position but my ob ect is also to cause the welt toassume more readily the desired position and to cause the fulling orpuckering of the stitch receiving edge'of the leather to take placeuniformly and gradually between and at the stitchesas the sewingproceeds.

. To this end I provide, in connection preferably with the improvedwelt-guide which constitutes the subject matter of my beforementionedapplication, a deflector or auxiliary guide piece for receiving the rearedge of the weltin such position as to control the edge of the welt andto cause the welt to assume the desired curvature gradually anduniformly and to shape itself automatically in the other particularsrequired as will presently be exp ained, said deflector taking the placeof the usual welt-guide spring and constituting an edge controllingdevice for holding, shaping and directing the welt delivered to thesewing mechanism.

The constructional details and other advantages and the operation of myimproved welt-guide will be pointed out more at length in the course ofthe following description, reference being had to the accompanyingdrawings in which I have shown one embodiment of my invention, thelatter being more particularly defined in the appended claims.

In the drawings Figure 1 is a top plan view of my improved welt-guide.Fig. 2 is a sectional view thereof .taken on the line 2.2

Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a detail view in top plan showing the auxiliar \guideor edge controller. Fig. 4 is a iagrammatic view for the purpose ofillustrating the principles of operation of my welt-guide as hereinconsidered. Fig. 5 is a right hand side elevation of the device.

The main portion of the welt-guide proper may be of any kind desired,preferably comprising a top plate 0 extending from a retaining arm 0 andan under plate ct and extension sup )orting plate 0 all as set forth infurther (letail in my aforesaid co'pending application.

In this class of devices the welt to passes through the welt-guidingpassage between the top' plate 0' and bottom plate 0 for the urpose ofhaving its stitch receiving edge w v urned up to be stitched to the edgea of the upper of a shoe whose toe is indicated at a Fig. 4. Heretoforea guide spring has been employed as shown for instance, at d in PatentNo. 419,239 which has simply served to hold the welt up to the stitchreceiving point and in proper position to have its lip 'turned up, thewelt assuming the position shown in dotted lines in Fig. 4, but as thewelt is composed of more or less heavy and still leather which is hardto manipulate the result has been that considerable difficulty has beenexperienced in producing proper results because of the force required tocompel the welt to assume the proper position, most of thiscomp'ulsiontaking lace after the welt has beenscwcd and is a out to re Iceive the outer sole.

To obviate as far as possible the difiicultics explained, I provide anedge controller in the form of a guide arm (1 extending obliquely withinthe welt receiving recess or guiding passage of the welt-guide andadjustable back and forth therein by any suitable mcans as by a stem (1and set screw (1, said guide arm having a curved end d extendingslightly forward of the delivery end or edge c of the welt-guide and atits other end being deflected forward and provided with a suitablebearing surface hereln shownas consisting of an anti-friction roller (1*mounted between retaining plates (1 which are curved at their oppositeedges d for ermittin free movement of the welt. he controller arm (Z iscurved or bowed backwardly as shown between its ends (1 ,11 in the planeof the welt see Figs. 3 and 4 and is also upwardly curved or benttransversely to 2. The end (I is curved or rounded forward at its outersurface for lpermitting the welt to move freely in either irection as itis some- .times desirable that it should move, and also preferablyprojects as shown for the purpose of giving a better, holding anddirecting en gagement with the welt opposite the stitch receiving pointthereof. In other words, the rear edge of the welt is positively engagedor pushed edgewise forward at the opposite ends of the controller (I,and between said ends it is restrained or held back at its front edge bythe welt guide, the bowed or curved middle portion of the controller arm(I, leaving the welt free to bethus bent widthwise.

In use the welt is fed between the plates 11 and thence through theweltuiding passage of the guide proper between t he upper plates 0 andthe under plates 1:, c", the controller arm (I being adjusted forwardaccurately to bring the stitch receiving edge w of the welt into theupturning portion of the welt-guide recess at 0 and thereupon as thesewing proceeds the welt is gradually and evenly compressedlongitudinally or puckered in at its sewed edge 20 about the curve nextto the toe a of the shoe with a minimum tendency to bend away from thehorizontal position.

which it is desired that it must subsequently maintain when sewed to theouter sole. This will be more readily understood by referrin to Fig. 4.Stitches having been passet through the welt edge to and the upper ed ea itwill be evident that, by having the welt 10 held flat and bent in anatural curve in the direction of its width between the 'roller d, and dwearing against the back edge of the welt and point 0 bearing againstthe front edge of the welt, the leather is permitted to pucker or gatherin and shorten on its inner side next to the toe a so that when the weltarrives at the point where it is being sewed this fullness athers innaturally between the point 4 and tire point e and is retained more orless by each successive stitch as formed by the needle n at 5. Moreoverthe curved arm d, or equivalent means for controlling and holding thewelt at its rear edge in such position as to curve it in the plane ofits width as clearly shown in Fi 4 serves to materially shorten andshape the welt in the region adjacent its inner ed e. The welt, underthe sewing action, wotild tend to lie down vertically edgewise aroundthe toe, but the upturned shape or bend of the arm (I, as best shown inFig. 2, cooperates with the widthwise puckering of tie welt to preventor largely counteract this tendency of the welt to turn vertically orlie down vertically, and to cause said welt to lie more readily in thedesired horizontal )lane for subset uently engaging the sole. lso afurther advantage is that the sewing is facilitated, the work beinrendered certain and uniform. The upturned welt edge tends to maintainreadily the proper position for the entrance of the needle in the stitchreceivin groove it? being held or pressed forward firmly by the arm (1at the point 6. The supporting plate 0" cooperates with the mechanismdescribed to the same ends.

It will be understood that there is a complexit y of yielding,stretching and distorting in various directions aside from the princi almovements which I have set forth, and ali of which conduce .to thedesired results and are effected by the means which I have set forthabove.

My invention is capable of various modifi cations in theCOllStl'llCilfifhll details of its embodiment and accordingly I wish itunderstood that certain of my claims are intended to be broader in scopethan the siecific mechanism of the preferred embodiment herein.

Without undertaking to set forth all the advantages, functions andembodiments embraced in my invention, what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent of the United States is g 1. In combination, awelt guide, a needle movable in a horizontal path in the direction ofthe width of the welt and parallel to the adjacent welt-guiding surfaceof the welt guide, said welt guide containing at one side of the path ofsaid needle a welt-guiding passage to hold the welt edgewise to theplane of the sole of the shoe in position to be sewed at its inner edgeto the outside of the upper, and means coo )erating with saidwelt-guiding passage to end the welt in the plane of its width towardthe shoe, and to compress longitudinally said stitch-receiving inner edewelt which is next to the shoe, and controlling means cooperating withsaid welt-guidof t 1e welt forward and also rearward of the place wherethe stitch-receiving edge of the welt bears a ainst said weltuidin assa'e a r: a b 9 ing passage to engage the opposite outer edge to permitsaid edge to assume a natural curve.

3. In combination, a welt guide, containing a welt-guiding passage tohold the welt edgewise to the shoe in position to be sewed to the shoethrough the extreme inner edge of the welt next to the shoe,'a needlemovable in a path parallel to said welt-guiding passage atthe forwardend thereof t'ransversely through said inner edge of the welt andapproximately parallel to the bottom of the shoe, and means cooperatingwith said welt-guiding passage to curve upwardly the welt transverselyof its width in a gradual curve beginning approximately at the pointreceiving the I18E( 1e and extending rearwardly toward its unsewed endand also to bend the welt simultaneously in the plane of its widthtoward the shoe and to com n-ess longitudinally that portion of thestitchreceiving edge yet to be sewed and to and including the pointpierced by the needle and receiving the stitches.

4. In combination, a needle, a welt-guide, containing at one side of thepath of said needle means for embracing a welt constituting awelt-receiving passage, an edge-col troller extending within saidpassage to engage the outer edge of the welt, said edgecontroller havingdeflecting portions for engaging the welt beforethe latter enters saidpassage and also at the opposite side of the needle where the weltleaves said passage, said cont-roller being bent in a direction awayfrom the welt between said deflecting portions, for permitting the weltto assume a natural curvature in the direction of its width.

5. In combination, a needle, a welt-guide, containing at one side of thepath of said needle means for embracing a weltconstituting aweltaeceiving passage, an edge-com troller extending within said passageto engage the outer edge of the welt, said edge controller havingdeflecting portions forenga-ging the welt before the latter enters saidpassage and also at the opposite side of the needle where the weltleaves said passage,

said controller being bent in a direction away from the welt betweensaid deflecting pora i a 's94,99o"

tions, for permitting-the welt to assume a natural curvature in theplane of its width,

and'also containing means for (lefiectW---- welt transversely to saidplane.

6. A welt-guide, containing a welt-guiding pas age, and an edgecontroller mounted in the rear side of the welt guiding passage,consisting of an arm curved at itmldlepertion .A and having at its outerend a )rojecting antifriction roller for engaging t to rear edge of G0the welt. I

7. A welt-guide, containing a welt-guiding pas age, and an edgecontroller mounted in the rear side of the welt guiding passage,consisting of an arnt curved at its middle )ortion and having its outerend extent ing forwardly and provided with 0p )osite ret aining platesfor engaging the welt fiat-wise on its op osite sides; v

S. n combination, a needle, a welt-guide, containing at one side of thepath of said needle means for embracing a welt and constituti-ng awelt-receiving passage, an edge controller extending within said passageto engage the outer edge of the welt, said passage having its guidingend 0 )posit-e said controller shaped to hold firmly the stitch-re-.ceiving edge in position for sewing to the shoe, said edge-controllerhaving its end beyond the path of the needle toward the sewed portionprojecting diagonally forward and curved toward the welt for engagingthe edge of the. latter and holding the welt firmly against said guidingend of said passage in a direction oblique to the sewing movement.

9. A welt-guide for welt sewing machines, having an arm extending at therear of its welt-receiving passage said arm projecting forwardly toengage the rear edge of the welt for bending theflatter in the directionof its width, said arm having opposite parallel retaining plates forembracing said welt. In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to thisspecification, in the presence of two subscribing witnes es.

\VILLIAM THOMPSON.

Witnesses:

F. AUsTIN TARR, M. A. Jones.

